Short n Quick

Well, hey there.  It sure has been a hot minute since I've done this!  Nearly ten days!  For some reason, it seems like a lot longer than that... Oh well!

Here goes:

In the last week and a half, I've been teaching, dancing, meeting new people, playing games, setting up my new apartment, started Insanity, touring the new 'hood, mourning over sad news, hugging my students incessantly, getting frustrated with them bunches, and having a great time doing it all. 

Seester came this past weekend and we got to hang out which was so nice.  I've missed her a tremendous amount and really wish we were closer to each other.  It seems that I will most definitely have to go to OK some time this coming summer.  :)  Love her.

Anywhos, that's really all that's been going on (and all I can really think of).  I'll post more laters.

Peace, love, & family time.

Happy Thoughts

Oy.  Guys.  It's the weekend and I have never been so thrilled for it.  Probably not "never," but definitely not this year.  This week kicked my butt, emotionally.  The kids are legitimately going crazy.  Insane.  Even the good ones.  I'm going to implement a class-wide rewards system, since individual ones seem to do nothing.  And I also got sick a bit, too!  Massively sore throat!  I'm still taking meds to make sure I kick it alllllll the way out.  Insh'Allah it will work.

Because this week was a biznatch, here are the little things that made me smile this week:

• Christmas music
• Love letters from students two days in a row
• Bowling and winning!
• Buying and decorating my Christmas tree
• Wearing Grandma's necklace
• Macklemore and the Good Husbands
• A mattress pad
• Buying a new couch
• Helping friends out
• Cold weather
• Hugs and kisses from kids (hmm wonder how I got sick???)
• Buying a ticket to Sri Lanka with one of my most favoritest people in the whole wide world!!!!!

I guess, in retrospect, it can't have been that awful of week, except that the majority of my time is spent with kids and they were really rude this week.  Next week, hopefully, they won't be.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Peace, love, & happy thoughts

 

Moving time

So...uh, yeaaaa... I'm moving.  Sweet.  No big deal.  JUST KIDDING!!!!  YAYAYAYAY!  Hip hip hooray!  And a HUZZAH for good measure!

The new place is really brand-new!  It's a small two-bedroom apartment with kitchen, two bathrooms, two rooms, and a living area.  It's really nice.  I like it (yes, I've seen it... twice!).  The other day, I went to see it and pretty much everything is moved in!  Another HUZZAH!

The only downside to moving (again) is that I have to pack everything up.  Yes, I unpacked my things because they told us they had no idea when we'd be moving.  And I have bought a lot of things!  GOOD GRIEF, have I bought a lot of things!  It's a wee bit ridiculous.  Like, seriously.  Ugh.  I feel like I have just about anything and everything a small FAMILY would need.  I might be slightly exaggerating, but STILL!  WHAT?! 

I can't wait to finally get into my apartment and unload everything.  Putting it in it's proper place and knowing I won't have to move it for the rest of this  year and (at least) next year, too.  Phew.

Peace, love, & new apartments!

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!

KATIEDALE IS COMING TO KUWAIT!!!!!!  

FEBRUARY 7TH - PLEASE COME FASTER!!!!

PEBBLES!

Thanksgiving 2012

Yup, today is Thanksgiving.  It didn't hit me until I was awake for a couple of minutes, but I promptly wished my friends a great Thanksgiving. 

I love Thanksgiving.  It's a great holiday.  Not only is it filled with the most delicious food ever, it is filled with love, laughter, family, and warmth.  How can you not love that?!  This year's Thanksgiving was filled with school!  Yay!  But I still like to take some time to reflect upon things of which I am grateful for.  Here is a bit of that:

* my family * my friends * my sister * the people who have stuck by me no matter what * my students' parents * my assistant and very good friend, Hibah * blankets to pile on top of me * food to stuff my belly with * chocolate * ice cream * chicken * good friends to share laughs with * baby smiles * small hands in my hair * tiny arms wrapped around me in a hug * moving to an apartment very soon! * my Kindle * my education * my ability to grow * my ability to learn * my ability to see things from various vantage points * football (REDSKINS!) * my boss * my coworkers * travel * my hunger to see more and learn more and do more and be more * KatieDale * my sorority sisters, who are still around and continue to help me become better * amazing professors * laughter * the ability to be who I am...

Etc, etc, etc.  This list could go on and on and on.  You shouldn't just make a grateful list on Thanksgiving.  When I'm sad or in a down-and-out mood, I like to make a list of things that I'm appreciative of.  It doesn't always help, but it definitely gives you something about.  Things could always be worse.  We are lucky.  We are fortunate.  Be grateful for what you have and who you are.  Go out and do good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last Weekend

Last weekend was a great weekend, in addition to it being three days!

Starting with silly faces.

Fabric Souqs

Race-day apparel (whoop, crew!)

First 10K and medal!

Gorgeous sunsets.

Beautiful weather!

Here's hope to this weekend being just as dandy!

Peace, love, & cool weather!

3 Days

... THAT has been the most magical thing ever, lately.  We had a surprise 3 day weekend last weekend because Kuwait celebrated their 50th anniversary of their Constitution.  They had so many fireworks - it was record breaking!  No, seriously!  It was!  I watched from the roof of our hotel, surrounded by good people.  I thoroughly enjoyed the hour of fireworks... I mean, who wouldn't?!

Then, we had a 3 day work week!  While it was super short, it felt super long.  I wasn't feeling life this week, and I'm not quite sure.  I guess it's just one of those slumps that creep up on ya and settle right on in for a bit.  I'm in the process of shaking it off for good at the moment!  This week at school, we started a new unit: Bears!  So I had the kids bring in their teddy bears and we have been doing fun things all week.  I'm excited to continue it next week.  If only the kids would get their ish together and stop being knuckleheads causing trouble.

THENNN we have another 3 day weekend!  It's the Islamic New Year (HAPPY NEW YEAR, btw!) and so we got Thursday off!  It's been relaxing so far.  Went to the salon and will probably meet up with some new friends tonight for some shisha and beverages.  I'm excited!  :)

Some other pretty awesome things: my boss complimented me on my comments on the report cards saying that I worded it very well and the parents can see what exactly is going on in the classroom from it.  :) My Arabic teacher (for the kids) loves me - so says all the other Arabic teachers! :) Went to Mad Musicals last night put on by SIK and it was pretty okay. :) Got to see Alex and Ian.  They always make me smile.

Here are some pictures and a video of my week!:

 Peace, love, & Lucky Number 3

This Week in Bullets

Hola,

This week has proven to be a bit of a test to my patience, happiness, motivation, and any other good/feel-good words.  But there have been pretty amazing things that have happened, too.  Here's what's been up:

• the school (KG) has been going through assessments because report cards are coming out soon.  Thankfully (and, at times, surprisingly) my class did relatively well.  There were just a few that I had a feeling wouldn't do as well, and didn't.  But that's good!  I'm happy about that.  
• in relation to assessments, I haven't really been in class this week because I've been assessing one-on-one and so my TA has been leading the class this week.  I missed them, until I was in the class yesterday.  They were complete MONSTERS.  We were going to have a fun day, but those little munchkins ruined it, so we did not fun work.  Suckers.
• Obama got re-elected.  While I didn't really follow the election all that closely, I knew for a fact that I definitely did NOT want Romney to win.  I still don't feel like either were the best candidate, but Romney was just the WORST.  I cried out of pure happiness that he did not get elected.  Thank goodness for that.
• us hotel people are still in the hotel and there hasn't been ANY good news WHATSOEVER.  We heard via hearsay that there might be an apartment ready in fifteen days, but when my roommate and I went to talk to the assistant superintendent yesterday, we were told it wouldn't be ready til January/February.  The apartments we were supposed to be moving into are all ready, but the owner backed out of having North Americans in his complex.  Bullshit.  ACA needs to get their shit together because it is not fun.  I'm fed up, but not to the point where I'm going to go find my own apartment, because our apartment stipend???  DUMB.  It's only 150KD, not nearly enough for anything.  Dumb dumb dumb stupid stupid stupid.  I'm very frustrated.  I love the school and my kids and my boss and my coworkers.  It's this one thing that is bugging me.  I'm not settled in and I don't feel at home yet because, well, I'm not at home.  It's dumb.  And frustrating.  And stupid.  
• I'll end this with good news.  Next week, we start the 2nd Quarter and we are kicking it off with the theme of Bears!  I'm very excited to bring my teddy bear, Brianna, in.  It'll be great.  She'll have a blast in school.  Last time I took her to school (in Korea), though, the kids gave her stupid mole on her snout.  So... I will have to talk to her about how this school will be better... insh'Allah.  I really love bears.   

That's it, homies.  Sorry for the rant, I tried not to make it all negative, but whatever.

Peace, love, & teddy bears.

Home sweet home: Pakistan edition

Since I've been home for four days, I guess it's sort of time to write about Pakistan, eh?

Well, as most of you know, our flight was delayed... three times.  Yea.  Ridiculous, right?  That's what I'm saying.  We flew on PIA.  The last time I remember flying on it, I just remember it being really smelly and how my parents just complained about it.  Because it was so cheap, though, we booked our tickets with PIA.  Supposedly they have quite a history with delaying their flights a trillion times before actually leaving, and we got a little taste of that!  So, 12 hours after we were supposed to take off, we finally were on the plane.

It takes about 3 hours to get to Lahore from here, so it wasn't too bad.  The pilots are awful and it's still smelly, but that's about it.

We got off the plane around midnight and were greeted by my uncle and taken home.  We didn't see many family members because, well, it was midnight.  So we went to sleep to ready ourselves for the next day, in which we were to go FABRIC SHOPPING!  My cousin is having her wedding in January and, since it's during a 3 day weekend, we are going to go!  YAY!

That's what we did pretty much our entire first day - fabric shop.  Because it was the day before Eid, it was CRAZY out in the streets, yo.  People can be crazy insane, including my father the Pakistani-Kuwaiti-American driver.  Oy.

Our second day there was Eid.  We didn't go out much that day, aside for going to a pharmacy and a grocery store right quick.  We had a couple visitors, which was nice to see again (after 2.5 years for me).  That was nice.  We received raw meat from neighbors and family and my uncle, dad, and I went to the butcher to pick up our part of a CAMEL we ordered!  YESSSS!!!!

That night, my married cousins came over and we had a BBQ-type thing in the yard.  It was cold out, so the huge fire was very much welcomed!  The chicken kabob was delicious and Saman made delicious salad thingie!  :)  It was a lot of fun hanging out with the family in that way.  I don't remember having a time like that - just hanging out and laughing that much and smiling that much and stuff.  It was really really lovely.

Our last day in Pakistan, we spent the majority of the day in/around the house to squeeze in as much time with Grandma as possible.  We ate our CAMEL for lunch and it was DELICIOUS!!!!  Ahhh.  Nice-uh.


This trip was exceptionally nice.  While we didn't get out too much, we spent some good QT time with the family that proved to be one of the best trips I've had there.  It's so weird that the older you get, the closer you might become to cousins and aunts and uncles.  I love my Grandma too much, too.  I'm so incredibly happy I got to see her while I could.  It makes me happy making her happy, smile, and laugh (which she did a lot of).  Although there is a huge language barrier, we still manage to have a lot of fun together and understand each other after a couple of minutes of guessing, which just adds to the fun.  I'm hoping that by January, I can learn a couple more phrases of Urdu (heyyy, Rosetta Stone).  I love her.

 Fabrics!

 Mama :)

 The craziness of people.

 Family BBQing

 Mama, Grandma, and Daddy

 Eid Mubarak, goat!

 What an excellent gift!

 Thumbs up for a great visit!

Peace, love, & family

Vacation - Wahoo!

Yes!  Our first vacation of the school year has started!  Yes!  So exciting!

Tomorrow, M&D and I will be heading to Pakistan!  I'm excited to go back.  And pretty content on it just being for three days.  I haven't been there since before I went to Korea in May 2010 (blog posts here: 1, 2, 3, 4 and many inbetween) and, no, I won't be getting a haircut again!  Usually I do a lot of reading when I'm there... but seeing as it's only for three days, I'm not sure.  I'm going to bring a book, though, and school work.  Hahaha.  Yep!  Going on vacation with school work!  We're getting close to assessments and I need to get myself prepared for them! 

Anyways, I'll make sure to take some pictures and stuff to post!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Also, here is a link to information about Pakistan. I realize it's Wikipedia, but you'll live.

Peace, love, & travel (FINALLY!)

Birthdays Around the World

Oy.

I've been sick for almost a week.  With a slight cold now.  Just a bit stuffy.  Sound like a 5 year old, nothing unusual.  But, to top it off, after my birthday dinner with my momma and papa, I woke up with a horrible stomachache.  Went to school, but came home early and opted out of going to school today because I still felt ill.  Yay, sickness!  As of right now, I'm doing well.  Ate some rice (first thing in the past two days), so that's good!

Anyways, I had my birthday celebration at the bowling alley Saturday evening/night and it was a lot of fun.  Many of my friends came out, except for a few that weren't feeling well.  I got some awesome gifts from awesome friends and coworkers.  Awesome.  And my day at school was really great, too!  The kids were super cute.  I got a chocolate birthday cake from one student and a cutesy card from another!  Lurves!  The kids were sooo good and kept saying happy birthday and giving me lots of hugs.  Perfection.  Went to tutor and then went out to eat with my mom and dad, who haven't helped me celebrate a birthday since 2009.  I know, I know.  It's not that long, but really?  It is.

My first birthday away from my parents was when I was studying in Thailand in 2007.  Lucky for me, I had a great group of friends that I lived with and traveled with and, just, did everything went!  We went out for dinner and they bought me an ice cream cake (tradition!) and we went out to a chocolate bar afterwards.  It was a great birthday (also because the next weekend we went to Koh Pha Ngan for the Full Moon Party).  Excellent.

My second birthday away from my parents was when I was in Korea and they were here, in Kuwait (2010).  That has got to be the best birthday I can ever ever remember.  My bestest friends and I went out to eat and played darts and I won TWO raffle prizes AND a darts game against the boys!  It was the greatest.  And the following night, there was a big party at our local hotspot, Underground.

The third birthday without them was last year (2011).  It was alright, went out to dinner and had a football-shaped birthday cake!!  And great presents with a great family that I am eternally indebted to for housing me and loving me!

This year, I had a great birthday.  I'm really happy I got to celebrate my awesomeness with special people that mean a lot to me.  I am a very lucky person, to have met such great people all over the world that can share my happiness with me and make me even more happy.  Really.  Super lucky.

Peace, love, & birthdays around the world.

A [super] short story

Because Momma loves it so much:

A parent came into the class on Thursday after school to chat before picking up her daughter.  Fine and dandy.  What a sweet family.

Anyways, she told my assistant and I that every time they drive past a palace (note: ANY palace), S points to it and says, "Ms. Sophia lives here!"

The kids really believe I'm a princess!!  I love it!

The end.



Today I'm going bowling with some people for my birthday (that is tomorrow)!  I'll also be baking rainbow cupcakes for my babies.  They'll be thrilled.  I can't wait til tomorrow!

Blog Post #137

I don't like naming posts cos I feel like I'm not good at it.  So, this post is entitled "Blog Post #137" because it's my 137th blog post.  Yayyyy.

Also, I DO like numbering the things IN my post because it makes me feel like I got everything I wanted to get.  Bam.  So, in honor of this "like":

1. Today was pretty sweet.  There is an Asian conference going on and so a couple of roads are shut down, which meaaaans that I had 6 kids missing from class today!  WOOHOO!  That was really cool.  It was a good day.  It's not like the kids that were absent are "bad," but it was just easier to be with only 17 kids as opposed to 23.

2. My school is in the process of getting re-accredited, which means that the accreditation team is here this week!  Today, they spent the day in KG and came into my class twice!  Once, was during Phonographix, and I quickly had the kids switch to practicing the sounds to spelling sounds using our awesome "smart board" wannabe.  Then they came in again as the kids and I were setting up for centers.  Lucky for me, there were only 17 kids and they were AMAZING.  Love them.

3. Went to a boat party last Friday!  It was pretty fun.  I quite enjoyed dancing and eating fried catfish!  Yumma!  Oh, and meeting new people, haha.

4. This Friday, I am supposed to go camping in the desert.  Seeing as I've only camped once, I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I can backpack across Asia easy peasy, but camping??  I don't know... seems so wild to me!

5. Then I'm going to have a Celebration of Awesomeness for my birthday on Saturday.  We're gonna go bowling.  Not sure how many people will show up, but whatever.  I know that some cool people will be there and I will be there and I love bowling!

6. And my birthday is Sunday!  Woohoo.  It will be the first birthday since 2010 to have with my parents!  That's really the only thing I'm looking forward to :)

7. Also, KatieD and I have been planning our trip in February.  I think we might go with Sri Lanka!  I'm pretty excited.  I've heard it's amazing and that two weeks might not even be enough time!!  EEPS!  Oh well.  I'll be with KD!  I'm so excited.  :D :D :D

Peace, love, & unnamed posts.

TGIT!

Thank goodness it's Thursday!  Orrr SHIT!  So Happy It's Thursday!

And what a great Thursday it has been so far and it's only 3:46 pm!  Granted, most of my day is behind me, so that's pretty cool!

I woke up in an extremely good mood.  And was very happy to see all my little munchkins this morning.  The day started with some DELICIOUS coffee from our cafeteria then it was time for our LED Projector Tutorial and it TOTALLY made the day EVEN better!!  It was so neat learning more about what we can do with our projectors!  I'm so excited to play around with it this weekend (on top of putting standards in all my lesson plans and making a newsletter).  I came from the tutorial to DONUTS!  YUMMA!  And finished making homework for Sunday!  And and and!  It was just so great.  Going to look at a treadmill sometime this weekend!  Geez.  I had a huge smile on my face all day.  It was great.  I wish every day was like this.  That's my new goal: Be happy MORE!  I'm going to make it happen.

My birthday is this month, too!  That's cool.  I'm thinking about going bowling the day before (which is Saturday aka the weekend), but we shall see.  I would really like to, but who knows if people would show up, actually.  Who cares?  I'm going bowling for my birthday!

THEN the 24th, M&D and I are heading to Pakistan for three days!  I know, not a long time, but it's better than nothing, really.  I miss my family, so I'm very excited to be heading to Pakistan for Eid break.  :D

Anyways, I'm just in a good mood today, so that's fun.  I hope you all are having a great day, too!

Peace, love, & weekends!

Hugs Really Do Save the Day

Hola folks!  Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to those crazy Canadians out there!  Hope you enjoyed your time giving thanks and love.

Coupla things, y'all:

1. There are four stages to living abroad.  Did you know that?  I did not, until I read my friend's blog about it.  Interesting!

2. I'm still in the hotel and they pretend like they know when we are getting our own places, but, really?  They don't.  And that sucks.  And I'm fed-up and tired of it.  It makes me very angry.  Very.

3. On the plus side, the Rugby Ball was a lot of fun!  I literally danced all night and had a blast!  I was a bit sore the next two days, but it was totally worth it!

4. I got my projector (like a smart board) set up in my room!  We played on it all day today!  It was awesome.  The kids really like it a lot.  So do I.  It'll be great for our review weeks coming up before assessments!  Woohoo!

5. My kids give really good hugs.  Like, I think they're actually getting better in the hug department and that makes my heart happy.

Here's me before the Rugby Ball:

 And here is our "smart board"!!!:

Peace, love, & hope for patience

It's the BEST MONTH EVER!

It's been a hot minute since I've been on here and I, honestly, can't remember what has happened since September 22nd (aka my last post).

I went to lunch with a really good friend today and she was all like, "So, what you been up to?!" and I couldn't think of a thing!  Well, barely!  Just the same ol', same ol': working, tutoring, sleeping, eating, hanging out with friends.  That's really it, guys!  I mean, sheesh!

Granted, those things have been great times, from getting to know my little munchkins better (side note: when I walk into the room and say, "Hello my little..." THEY finish the sentence with "munchkins" or "monsters."  I LOVE it!) and getting loads of hugs and cute little presents as of late (flowers, a book, a cool bag), to going on our first field trip yesterday (YAY Little Gym!) and this week being Reading Week (we are doing Where the Wild Things Are and gonna dress up as wild things tomorrow for our PARADE!).  So, yea, I guess school has a lot going on for me.

I, thankfully, have a lot of tutoring, which is great!  Although I'm always super tired and, sometimes, up past my bedtime (coughcough730/8coughcough), I love it.  Last night, I was with my 3rd grader and I said something along the lines of her being "cray" (no worries, I'm real cool with their family) and she called me "cray"!  I asked her where she learned that from and she said, "You.  Last week."  Ahhhh maaaan.

Sleeping and eating.  Same same, whatevs.  I've been getting more stomach aches lately and that's probably because I have NO routine what so ever for eating or even healthy eating!  Ugh, oh well, for now.

And then hanging with people.  Watched half of the Redskins game last week (sad face) and have gone out to eat and shop with epople.  Tis nice.

Anywhos, that's pretty much it going on.  Going to the British Embassy this weekend for the Rugby Ball.  I'm excited to get dolled up and go dancing.  :)

Peace, love, & October 21st

Coffee Shops

You know what I woke up thinking about today?

No, not about how it's Saturday and I have to go in for week 4 tomorrow.  Not about how I have homework and work to do today.  And not about how my hotel room is a mess with clothes strewn everywhere.  Nope.

I woke up thinking about coffee shops.  And how much I love them.  Yep.  I woke up thinking about a coffee shop I found during one of my strolls through Hanoi, Vietnam.  How it smelled and felt and tasted and looked.  And that led me to think about a restaurant I visited with a delicious menu and coffee in Sapa Valley, Vietnam and then the cute little gelato place in Rome, Italy and then the coffee shop up the street from our apartments in Ori, South Korea and then the coffee shop that was across 4th Ring Road in Jabriya, Kuwait. 

I love coffee shops.  I love being able to find the perfect spot in the back or in the corner of the whole shop and just sitting there with a good book or my laptop, reading/typing away whilst people watching.  Watching how others interact with each other or how they interact with themselves, either talking to themselves or getting lost in their own thoughts. 

I love it.

Peace, love, & coffee shops, duh.

Princess here.

Today after they made me a sad panda (again), I had a student say to me, " MISS!  YOU ARE A PRINCESS SOPHIA!" 

Why, yes.  Yes, I am.

Peace, love, & Princesses.

Of course that would happen

Of course the day after I post about how much I love the kiddies, they drive me crazy!  Yesterday and today have been a bit of a struggle with the youngins and myself.  They just like to talk way too much.  It's nice sometimes, but other times it isn't.  I mean, come on!  What do 4/5 year olds REALLY have to talk about?!?!  Geez. 

Anyways, because they've been making Ms. Princess Sophia craycray, I've decided to think about things I really like a lot a lot, such as:

• Chicken.  I really really love chicken.
• Harry Potter
• Frank Ocean
• Chocolate
• Hugs
• Cool people who like to hang out with me
• My hair - it's getting really long
• My mom and dad and seester
• Cheese
• Ice cream
• Katie Dale
• Whatsapp
• Music, in general
• Coloring
• the Redskins
• Movies
• Traveling
• and many more.  

Peace, love, & hopes for a better tomorrow.

Yes, please.

I love 'em, I love 'em, I love 'em!

They walk in after Life Skills today and I ask one of them for a hug.  After getting a great bear hug from her, there is another waiting their turn.  Then another.  Then another and then I'm swamped.  With 20 kids on top of me giggling non-stop, I can't help but giggle along with them until we slowly unravel ourselves from our massive hug and go back to learning. 

I love 'em.

Crunch

Heyohh.

This week was a bumpy one.  Started out pretty rough, but ended out pretty rad.  As long as it ends good, I'm good. 

I don't have much to say, but here are a few thoughts that are floating around:

1. It's freeeeeezing in here ("here" being the hotel room).
2. Our (Bneid Crew's) apartments are supposedly "bigger and better" than the other apartments.
3. I'm totally making Spongebob macaroni and cheese right now.
4. L&P Park are superheroes.  I can't thank them enough for the other night.


That's it.  I really don't have a lot to say.  The kids are still super cute.  Not as cry-y as earlier this week, but A LOT goofier.  I don't think it helps that Hibah and I are super goofy, too.  This will be a good year, I think... I hope. 

Peace, love, & CRUNCHY peanut butter

Just as they happen, they will pass

First week is over.  I think it went pretty well.  We are all still trying to settle in with being back in the classroom after a long summer, so there are a few things that need to be ironed out, but all-in-all, I'm pretty happy with how it went this week. 

Since the first week is over, it makes this our first "official" weekend and, I must say, I have been quite the anti-social today.  It's not a bad thing, though.  Sometimes this happens.  Sometimes you need to be alone, quiet, thoughtful.  Sometimes you need to hear nothing but your music and see nothing but the ceiling.  Sometimes you need to eat chicken and ice cream. 
Sometimes it will pass in a day.  Sometimes it will pass with Harry Potter.  Sometimes it will pass in a couple of days.  And sometimes, it will need a change to help it come to pass...

These things happens.  It does not, by any means, mean that I am unhappy.  On the contrary, I am a very happy person, as most people know.  These things just happen.  And just as they happen, they will pass.

Peace, love, & solitude

My First... and Second Days!

Yellowww!

So, yesterday was my very first day of school in KG-2!  It was pretty... hectic/good/fun/craycray.  Honestly, I barely remember much except feeling like I was scrambling around most of the day, which I don't think was necessarily true.  Ha ha.  We started the day with one crier.  After holding her hands and telling her pretty firmly that she needs to stop crying and getting up and leaving her, she stopped.  Then another child came in late and was BAWLING.  Her mom thought it'd be a good idea to stay for a bit and so she did, then came up to me later telling me that it might be better if she left and the child was fine five minutes later.  Haha!  There were a couple of times where I totally lost my train of thought, but the kids just sat there quietly, watching Hibah and I wait for words to come.  But we lived and were smiling at the end of the day.

The second day (today) was a lot better, I feel.  There was only one crier and only for five minutes because I didn't give her the time.  Then we just jumped right in and went with it.  I think the kids enjoyed themselves and I know I definitely felt like it was a bit more smooth than yesterday.  Although, I did have a kid throw up in the classroom and then down the hall and then right outside the bathroom.  Poor kid.  I love him, I feel so awful.  He admitted himself that he ate too much.  I know the feeling, buddy, I know the feeling. 

Anyways, here are some pichas of my room and door!  YAY!

Peace, love, & Honey Nut Cheerios!

Lucky

That's me.  I'm not trying to be all high and mighty (okay, so maybe I am :P), but I am pretty lucky.  Most people I have met here don't have anyone.  I hate that.  I've been there and I know how it feels and, while, I know how it feels I don't know how to help them because everyone is so different.  The only thing I can think of is lending out my own parents (who are here, lucky me).  I know my parents don't mind it (right, guys?!?!), so that's cool.

Having my parents here definitely makes me lucky, but so does my advantage of having been here before.  I still have a couple of cool and close friends from my other school I was at last year and that's pretty lucky.  I like a large group of people, that way I don't get bored or have the same conversations about the same old stuff over and over again.  I like the mix and I like the ability to swing back and forth and then put them both together.  I like it.  It's fun.  And it's lucky.

Having my parents and "old" friends here makes me lucky, but so does my new friends.  They are awesome.  Seriously.  I'm not sure how I got so lucky.  Everyone gets along really well and everyone is really supportive and caring.  I love it.  There are always new things to do and to see and to talk about and to learn about.  Did I mention that they are some of the most caring and nice people ever?  Because they are.  I feel safe and happy when I'm with them.  They make me smile and laugh a lot and we all know how much I love doing that. 

Anyways.  I feel lucky and special.  That's a good feeling, ya know? 

Peace, love, & warm fuzzies

A Year

Last summer was a hard summer.  After my grandmother passed away, my grandlittle, Andi, died, and tomorrow marks my great aunt's death.  Even though it was a hard time, I powered through the sadness that undoubtedly set in and took over.  As I wrote in the post to/about my grandma, here, I try to take what I can from the time that I had with these special people.  They came into my life (well, 2 of the 3, I came into theirs) for a reason and I like to think that I learned from them.

Since last summer, many things have changed, I have changed.  I am stronger, smarter, and more adventurous (I like to think that's because of Andi).  I am now living in Kuwait, teaching kindergarten.  I am learning, setting up, and letting down boundaries.  I am laughing every day because I know that is how it should be and that is what these three special people (plus a couple more) would want from me.  They would want me to live out my dreams and make new ones and go out achieve those, too.  So I shall.

I just wanted to say that I love them.  Always have and always will.

Peace, love, & even more love.

Hotel Motel Holiday Inn

Today was our second day of orientation!  Yesterday was fun and we met a lot of people, but by 3 o'clock EVERYONE was EXHAUSTED thanks to jetlag, so yea...

BUT TODAY! was awesome.  We all met downstairs (there are 13 of us hotel motel-ers) and hung out for a bit and were picked up and taken to The Avenues.  It was a lot of fun walking around the whole, entire mall (which I hadn't done before) with the girls and going shopping.  I got to talk to some of the O-leaders and they helped clarify the dress code a bit more!  After Avenues, we were brought back to our hotel and had an hour to hang out and then we were picked up and taken to the Grand Mosque.  It was super awesome!  We had to dress in abayas and hijabs!  YEE!!  I was soooo giddy and excited about the whole experience and I think it may have rubbed off on other people a bit (that or they just got annoyed with my huge smile and endless giggles).  Our tour guide was AMAZING.  She explained a lot about Islam and Kuwait and I think it really helped everyone get a bit more acclimated and stuff.  Cool!

After the mosque, we were brought back to our hotel and I ran M&D's keys to the P's so that their apartment can get cleaned tomorrow and came back right away because a bunch of us went for a walk to the Kuwait Towers at night!  We were badasses and crossed Gulf Road ... at NIGHT!  Got to the towers and walked around them and took pictures and stuff and got to the area where the water park is!  And saw they had PAINTBALL and GO-KARTS!!!!!!!!  So exciting.  So, I was so excited.  I mean, I think it was a combination of the company and what we were doing (walking around Kuwait randomly with no schedule at all).  Trevor and I were able to figure out how much Go-Karts were and we convinced most everyone to go with us!!!!  IT WAS SOOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!  Man, huge smile the entire time and Christine and I teamed up because we were in the slowest cars and we tried to block everyone.  It was a great time.  Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel and stopped for some shwarma for some people.  Came back up to my room to prepare this blog post (because I was/am SOOOO happy and excited) and got a message from Martin asking what we were all doing.  All of us were still awake so we had a "pool party" down at our pool.  Basically, we hung out and had some outrageous conversations.  It was a lot of fun.

I feel really fortunate.  At first all of us were a bit ticked that we were in a hotel and not able to fully settle in and stuff, but I feel so fortunate because it has automatically given us a group of awesome people to get to know and be tight with.  I'm not saying we won't meet new people, but we have been able to spend a lot of time becoming solid with each other and it's great.  I'm pretty happy.

I guess I should post pics from the mosque.  I'll do it as soon as I upload them!  Oh!  Oh!  I forgot!  I lost my phone tonight.  Left it in the cab.  When I realized this, I tried not to sweat it too much and had the hotel guy call my phone.  By the time we got back from Go-Karting, he had a HUGE smile on his face and said that it will be returned later tonight, and GUESS WHAT?!  Yep!  I HAVE IT BACK!!!!  How lucky is that?  Man oh man.  Great day/night/people/country.

Peace, love, & AWESOMENESS

Edit:  Pictures!

A tiled wall in the women's part.

The women's praying area.

Totes gorg!

PRETTY!

Put yo' shoes here!

By the time we left, they were all lit up!

The Mosque in the evening.

Maybe it IS Maybelline...

...Or maybe I'm just THAT awesome?  Thoughts?

Anyways, I suppose I should post a blogski about being back in Kuwait blah blah blah.  The flights were pretty flight-like and long.  On my flight from Dallas to London, my headphones (or the airplane's headphones) wouldn't stick into the headphone hole, so I could watch the movies, I just couldn't hear them (dumb).  I made a new friend, who lives in the Czech doing something that isn't teaching and has lived a lot of places (even Kuwait when she was in HS!).  London was whatevs, I slept most of the time.  And my flight from London to Kuwait was chill.  Had to poke the crap out of this high school kid to get him to wake up so I could use the bathroom (when I say "poke the crap out of" I mean it took me, like, 5 minutes to get this kid to wake up and by the end of those 5 minutes, I wasn't trying to be nice.  Just sayin'.). 

Got picked up from the airport and was told I'd be living in a hotel for now.  They don't know how long, though, which sucks, but I'm trying to make the best of it.  I don't have a dresser, so I can't really unpack all that much... So hopefully we won't be here for too long.  I'll be sharing the hotel suite with another teacher.  I mean, I guess it's all pretty posh and awesome.  I can see the gulf from my room window and the Corniche is just across Gulf Road, so that's pretty cool, oh and I don't have to clean.  Cool. 

Yesterday, I went to the parent's apartment to shower cos I hadn't brought shower stuff... It was hot.  Their apartment was HOT.  I tried to get that fixed, I'll probably have to go back over just to make sure it the AC is working, and if it isn't, talk to apartment man, Jabril.  I hung out with and ate dinner with Alex and Ian and that was awesome.  It was great hanging out with them because they are awesome.  And then came back to the hotel where I got to meet two other teachers!  I feel good that I got to meet some people before orientation starts today.

Anywhos, I slept for a solid 6 hours last night, which makes me AWESOME.  Hence the title of the post.  I'm AWESOME.  I'm having coffee right now and then I'm going to try to stay awake for the rest of the day.  I think I can do it, but who knows?!  I still feel sleepy, but I won't think about it!!!!!

All-in-all: I'm back in Kuwait, guys.  The real deal.  I can't wait to see everybody else that is coming back.  That'll be fun. 

Peace, love, & I'M AWESOME.

And so it begins...

Heads up: due to nervousness and my ADD, this post does not "flow" and does not sound good.  Just letting y'all know.

After watching 6 or 7 movies yesterday, we packed up the blankets on the floor and headed to bed.  (I had to watch an episode of Grey's because the last three movies we watched were scary/zombie movies.)  I got all cozy up in bed and had my ear buds in with rainymood.com playing in the background and closed my eyes... but for the life of me, I could NOT fall asleep.  Sleep would not come to me at all.  Nada.  I rolled around and around.  Tossing and turning.  It sucked.

I hate big trips and I hate big changes.  I mean, not really, but when stuff like that (the whole no sleeping thing) happens, I hate it.  It's awful.  My stomach starts hurting, twisting and tying itself into knots and I can't sleep. 

Anyways, I'm nervous.  Nervous that I'm not going to make new friends and nervous that I won't be good at my job.  Thing is, I'm pretty sure I will make new friends and that I'll be good with the kids, but I'm still nervous as heck and that causes me to lose a very important nights' sleep.  Uncool. 

I have a couple more things to do today and then Seester will drive me to the airport to get there at 2 for my 4:15 flight and it shall begin...

OKC --> Dallas
Dallas --> London (for a 12 hour layover)
London --> Kuwait (landing at 6:30 am on Tuesday morning)

Anyways, because of the lack of good writing in this post, I shall end it here.  Super exciting, eh?

Peace, love, & MORE PEACE, PUHLEAAASSEEEE!!!!!

That's Me. Planning.

Last time I was on my way to Kuwait, I had no idea.  No idea what I was going to be doing.  I mean, I had a brief idea of what I was going to be doing, but nothing was certain.  Like, nothing.  I knew that I wanted to tutor, but who knew if I'd get tutoring gigs?  I knew I wanted to find a job for next year, but who knew I would?  And I knew I wanted to start my Master's, but who knew what would happen? 

I'm usually pretty good at the "who knew?" part because I'm not a planner.  I don't plan things.  Oh, you wanna hang out?  You're probably gonna have to make it happen, unless you want to sit in a coffee shop or go get ice cream or have chicken for dinner.  I don't plan.  It's just something that I don't do because, honestly, it kinda freaks me out a bit.  Especially when I end up dedicating X number of years on something.  I get bored pretty easily and I'm not very good at staying in one place for too long, unless I have a solid friend-base that can keep me pretty well entertained (i.e. do stuff with me).  Side note: I am really good at booking tickets and hostels... I'll do that in a millisecond.

Anyways, so here I am.  August 16th.  In three days I start my long-arse journey back to Kuwait.  With a plan.  Sort of.  For the most part.  I mean, I-have-a-job kind of plan.  And I'm nervous as H-E-double hockey sticks.  Where there are a lot of new things that will be happening (new school, friends, curriculum, friends, apartment, etc) there are an equal amount of not-new things (Kuwait, friends, parents) and that calms me down a bit.  As does the realization that many of the new teachers I'm with are young and they have just about the same amount of experience as I do.  So, we're all in this together.  And that makes me feel better. 

Now I'm just rambling, but that shouldn't come as a surprise, honestly.  But, moving on, I guess the jist of this post is that the first time I went to Kuwait, I had no clue what I'd be doing and this time, I know that I'll at least be teaching (knock on wood that everything goes smoothly) and that's something.  That's me planning.

Peace, love, & Kuwait 

11 days left

... til I'm a real-life teacher, y'all!

Anywhos, my trip to VA was good times.  Got to see some coolio people.  Twas nice.  And got to go the beach!  Very niiice. 

Plane trip back was not so nice.  Any airline in America is the worst airline in the world.  Gah.  I got to ATL fine and dandy and was sitting at my gate and saw that we were delayed (shouldn't be surprised).  Then I come to find out we're delayed because something with the plane is BROKEN and they were trying to fix it.  What?!  So they moved us to another gate/plane where we come to find out (again) that this plane is BROKEN, too!  So, they moved us back to the other gate.  THEN the moved us to a completely DIFFERENT gate because that plane was not broken (gasp!).  It really was just ridiculous.  3 hours later (about) we were off the ground and flying to OKC.  Ridic. 

So I've been back in OK for a couple days and have done absolutely nothing.  NOTHING.  It's been nice, but I really gotta get down to business seeing as this is my last weekend in the States and next week is my last week.  Like, I gotta pack.  Really, that's it.  Oh and homework.  Whatevs.  Packing is a bit more important.  (By the way, I've been super unmotivated to do any school work lately, which has led me to ask for a "break" and I have been granted a two week "break" at the end of this class til August 28th, thank goodness!)

That's it!  That's my life right now.  Pretty lame and pretty boring.  I'm ready to get back to Kuwait and start orientating and meeting new people and seeing "old" people and stuff.  I'm ready to get outta here.

Peace, love, & peanut butter

Virginia, y'all

So I'm in Virginia!  Have been for the week, actually.  Went to a sister's wedding in VA Beach this past weekend!  It was amazing.  I am so so happy for her :)  It was really ballerific getting to see a bunch of sisters.  I've missed those crazy cats. 

This week, I've spent getting ready for Kuwait... Sorta.  I took all my documents to be authenticated by VA state down in Richmond, easy peasy; took, maybe, 20 minutes total.  Then I drove up to DC to get them authenticated by the State Department and was late to the office by 30 minutes!  But, thankfully, they took my stuff anyways (because I am "out of state").  Another easy peasy.  Went to the Embassy to drop everything off and was told it'd be 5 days.  After explaining I was leaving and needed it asap, I was told to come back with a self addressed envelope.  Fine, whatever.  Went back to the Embassy the next day with a FedEx and dropped it all off and got a phone call about an hour later saying I was missing things.  So crazy.  I was told my malaria, syphilis, and filariasis tests weren't there (which they WERE, they just didn't look close enough!), so I had the doctor in OK write a note saying that I was free of these three things specifically and had it faxed.  And I needed to get my degree verified on top of getting authenticated TWICE!  WHAT?!  Anyways, the visa guy said my visa would be done by the end of the week.  I called him today and he said that it would be done tomorrow, so I was going to go pick it up, but then he called back saying he put it in the mail.  Hmp.  Insane.  That's my rant.  At least it's on its way, right?  By the time I get back to OK, my passport with my work visa should be there (Insh'Allah)!

Anyways, I gotta go get ready to go see even more sisters for dinner!  Yay! 

Peace, love, & craziness

For you

I guess I could use my blog as a place to post my grievances about losing a very important and special person in my life a year ago today.  I guess I could use my blog to post my feelings and thoughts about it.  I guess I could use my blog to gain condolences...

But I won't.  Yes, it's been a year since my grandma passed away.  Yes, it's been a very very difficult year (one of three deaths in one summer, but hers, obviously, being the closest to  my heart).  Yes, at times I've felt lost and not in the right place at the right time or with the right decision.  No, I'm not trying to be all stoic and cold, so please don't think that.  But, yes, I have learned a lot in this past year about her, about me, about my family and about the people around us. 

It's still hard to travel to Alabama and not be able to see her.  And it's still hard for me not to walk up to her and get a hug with a smile.  It hurts that I can't just lay down next to her on the couch, put my head in her lap, even if she's in the middle of a conversation, and have her play with my hair.  It's hard as hell to not be able to ask her advice on what to do with a bunch of 5 year olds! 

But, you see, all of those things are things that are hurting me.  I've been grieving for me and my loss, not taking into account that she is no longer feeling the unexplained chest pain or seeing Grandpa the way he is... Yea, we can say that we wanted her at our weddings, to see us graduate, to hold our kids in her arms, to teach them the same things she taught us, but she has!  Grandma had taught us patience, virtue, smiles, hugs, warmth, and how to make Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  And what we can do, as her descendants, is take those special quirks she has given us, her defiant thoughts and beliefs and feelings, her love and learn more from those in our own ways with her guidance.  We can try our hardest to grow up to be people she would think are awesome and special and smart and talented.  We can "be" her in a different way, as long as we hold her close to our hearts. 

I can't say I will no longer grieve for my loss, because then that would be a lie.  But I can say that I will remember her patience and love and understanding and I will try my hardest to implement those learned things into my own life so people can look up to me the way so many people looked up to her and learned from her, so people can love me the way she was, and still is, dearly loved. 

So, with that, I love you, Grandma.  You will never leave my thoughts.  Your great smile, laugh, hugs, and cute clothes will forever be with me. 

"..you feel no pain"

Music.  I love love love it.  I dislike it being quiet, especially when you can listen to music!  I must admit, though, that I have been lacking on keeping up with music like I used to.  Sad, but true.  There are other things that have started to fill my time that, I guess, are more "grown up" or whatever. 

Anyways, this past summer I've downloaded a couple new albums that I really dig.  Some of my newest and bestest albums are: the Givers, Neon Trees, Zac Brown Band, Frank Ocean, and Flo Rida (haha to the last one). 

And here are some new releases that I'm super super stoked about!!!!!! : Mumford and Sons, Matt & Kim, the Avett Brothers, Wiz Khalifa, and Lupe Fiasco!  YAY!  Here are a list of other awesome releases, including, but not limited to: Muse, Calvin Harris, DMB, Imagine Dragons, and Minus the Bear!

I listen to music as often as possible.  I am always up for broadening my music selection, too, so if you have anything you want to share, please do! 

Peace, love, & music (duh)

These Days...

Watching the news these days is usually a bone-chilling, heart-heavying, tear-inducing affair.  There is rarely anything good that we hear going on in the world.  What comes on the news are things about shootings, murders, bombings, political fuck ups, and the likes.  (I type this as I sit and watch the breaking news on NBC Today on the Colorado shooting).  Because of these things, I feel like we need to take more time to be grateful and smile and say "I love you" (S/O to Katie Mitchell for inspiring these words).  With all the horrible things going on in the world, we need to take the time out of our "busy" and "hectic" days to sit and reflect upon what makes this world a good place, because there are good things happening every day even if they aren't broadcasted, even if no one is begging for attention because they did something good, there are good things. 

Some of my good things:

• friends that stay in touch
• family that will always hold you dear
• hugs and kisses
• laughter
• a job that provides a roof over 
• my head and food in my mouth
• the ability to dream
• the power to achieve those dreams
• the ability to feel
• being able to see the world
• to meet new people 
• to share new/old experiences
• learn about new things from people, places, etc.

And so so much more... What are your good things?

Peace, love, & LOVE.

Water Baby

Yesterday, the family and Taylor went kayaking!  Yay!  It was a lot of fun.  My shoulders are a wee bit sore, but nothing I can't handle (*caveman grunt*).  And I'm burnt, go figure.  Anyways, while on the water yesterday, I just kept thinking about how I loooove water.  Ever since I was little, I loved it and then the love strengthened (awwwww) when I started rowing crew in high school.  Just amazing.  

Continuing on, I love water.  From Slip n Slides, running through a sprinkler, pool time, splashing in the waves to rowing, white water rafting, kayaking, and tubing!  Love it. 

I've been fortunate enough to do all of these and some in countries outside of the States cos I'm awesome.  For example:

Kayaking: Rappahanock River, Virginia; Koh Chang, Thailand; Vang Vieng, Laos; Oklahoma.
White Water Rafting: Chiang Mai, Thailand; South Korea; Costa Rica
Ocean/sea time: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Dead Sea, Gulf of Thailand, Yellow Sea/South China Sea
Jet Skiing: Virginia, Texas, Kuwait

I'm hoping to add on to this [places] list this coming year!  I'm also hoping to add on to the activity list scuba diving!  That's right.  I'm pretty sure I want to try out scuba diving.  Everyone in the family does it, but me, so it's my time now!  Luckily, I know someone that can help me get certified in Kuwait.  Rock on.  I'm excited and nervous and scared all at the same time, but I think it'll be fun...

 

Anyways, guess I gotta go be productive...

Peace, love, & water.

A Month and Two Days

I only have that much time left in the States til I fly out of Oklahoma City to Dallas to London (for 12 hours!) and, finally, to Kuwait.  That's five weekends, guys.  FIVE.  Not a whole lot when you count by weekends, eh?

I'm excited and nervous and sad and excited.  I miss my Kuwait friends a lot and I miss being around kiddies (which I'll have a whole lot of time of come September 3rd)! 

Anyways, for my five weekends left, I've got much to do:

Wednesday, July 18 - kayaking with the family and Taylor!
Saturday, July 21 - take the OGET (teacher test) and a concert in DALLAS!
Sunday, July 22 - fun times in Dallas
Friday, July 27 - fly to VA Beach & reunions with my sisters!
Saturday, July 28 - Tarenne & Chris' wedding!  And more reunion!
Monday, July 30 - visa stuff runs to Richmond and DC
Wednesday, August 1 - bonding time with Lil C!
Friday, August 3 - Dewey beach with Mollie and Amanda!
Monday, August 6 - fly back to OKC
Friday, August 10 - HOPEFULLY Austin for the weekend!
Sunday, August 19 - fly out!

Yikes!  That's a lot (but not at the same time).  I've enjoyed being back in the States and being able to text friends easily (they should just get WhatsApp or Kakao already).  I'm really excited to see old friends, too!  Insh'Allah everything will go smoothly and great!

Peace, love, & 33 days!

Future Sophia's Problem?

Procrastination has hit again, guys!  Geez.  I think it has something to do with Mercury Retrograde, which probably means I should re-read Gala Darling's post on it.  This is part of what Gala has said about it:

"I often find that Mercury retrograde makes me want to go into hermit mode. I feel like half my brain is missing so I’m really not that interested in interacting with anyone, plus every conversation seems to go in an unusual, confusing direction. I feel much more irritable & frustrated & things just don’t seem to go how I want them to."

And oh how I can relate, especially in terms of going into hermit mode and my brain missing!  Anyways.  Here are some things I learned today whilst procrastinating on my homework.

• my hands seem really small.  
• I like a lot of posters.
• I didn't drink enough water today.
• most of my Instagram pictures are done using the same style or whatever it's called.
• Katie Dale had a great time in NC and Toronto.
• Susie makes delicious-looking spaghetti sauce.
• Lindsay & Phil are about to be swallowed by water.
• pencils are fun.
• I chew too much gum.
• my ring I wear on my left hand has gotten slightly bigger.
• my back hurts.
• Daddy is really good at installing dishwashers.
• Grandma wrote some crazy/silly things in her journal.
• I miss football and didn't know as much as I thought I did.

Guys, that's it.  I'm bored of writing this list.

Peace, love, & water

ACA

Hey all,

Momma, sister, and I are currently on our way back to Oklahoma. I've been on Facebook every so often today checking up on ACA's page and I'm getting even more excited.

A lot of the other new hires are new teachers, just like me! I really like that. I like that ACA is giving new teachers a chance instead of not hiring them because they don't have "two years of experience." And I like it because now I know I'm for sure not alone.

I also really like that most of them are young, so yay! And two of the girls have taught in Korea like me! And there is a guy who is living in Thailand right now (like I used to!). I already feel like I have things in common with these guys and it makes me happy.

Yay!

Peace, love, & awesomeness